How might Charging as a Service work for electric motorcycle riders in East Africa?
A field-led research engagement with ROAM, supported by British International Investment, exploring how fast charging, battery swapping and home charging can fit together into a service ecosystem that protects rider income, builds trust, and scales beyond the early adopter curve.
The situation
Electric motorcycle adoption in East Africa is growing, but scaling remains constrained by unreliable charging experiences, fragmented infrastructure, uneven battery performance, and uncertainty around cost, ownership and trust.
For many riders, the question is not simply whether charging is cheaper or faster. The real question is whether it protects their daily income. Downtime, inconsistent battery quality, limited service support, and weak proof around battery performance can quickly undermine confidence in electric mobility — so charging models need to fit real rider routines, reduce earning risk, and build trust over time.
The assignment
Proportion Global was commissioned by ROAM, with support from British International Investment, to explore how Charging as a Service could work for electric motorcycle riders in East Africa.
The engagement focused on translating rider insights into practical pathways for a scalable charging ecosystem — understanding how fast charging could complement battery swapping and home charging, how services could better align with rider income logic, and how MSMEs could participate as viable charging hosts.
- Reframe charging as part of a mixed ecosystem, not a single technology bet
- Surface what riders need to feel confident moving from petrol to electric
- Identify how MSMEs could become reliable charging hosts
- Translate findings into ecosystem-level opportunity areas for the sector
The approach
Our team conducted field research with riders, MSMEs and wider ecosystem actors across urban, peri-urban and rural contexts in Kenya. The work combined interviews, journey mapping, service experience analysis, and ecosystem conversations to understand how riders make decisions about charging, battery ownership, downtime, trust and cost.
The research revealed that adoption depends on much more than infrastructure availability. Riders need charging options that are predictable, located along real movement patterns, supported by reliable service, and compatible with daily cash flow. Distinct rider personas helped clarify how different groups experience risk, value and convenience.
- In-context interviews with riders across three operating environments
- Service experience analysis of swapping, fast charging and home charging
- MSME conversations on the conditions for hosting charging points
- Ecosystem mapping with manufacturers, financiers and policy actors
Three rider lenses that shaped the work.
Personas were not used to segment marketing audiences. They were used to clarify how different rider groups experience risk, value and convenience — and where the same charging model can succeed for one group while quietly failing another.
Fast charging as part of a mix, not a replacement.
The work positioned fast charging alongside battery swapping and home charging — three modes serving different moments of the rider’s day. Concepts and experiments explored flexible payment structures, transparent battery health, clearer accountability, better service recovery, and charging in high-flow areas like petrol stations, markets and transport hubs.
The reframe
The research reframed fast charging as an income-protection tool rather than simply a speed solution. For riders, the value of Charging as a Service lies in predictability, confidence and earning continuity — not in kilowatts.
That reframe changed what “scaling charging” means. It is less a buildout problem and more a service-design problem: trust, accountability, recovery and inclusion are the variables that make the network usable in practice.
Ecosystem-level opportunity areas translated from rider research and ready for partner action.
Charging modes positioned as a coordinated mix — swapping, fast charging, home charging.
Public webinar with investment, manufacturing, infrastructure, policy and rider voices in the room.
Six scalable pathways for the ecosystem.
Each pathway pairs a rider need with a concrete shift in how Charging as a Service is offered, priced or hosted. They are not alternatives to one another — they are mutually reinforcing moves that together make the system more usable.
Build trust through battery transparency.
Make battery quality and state-of-health visible to riders, and back it with clear customer accountability when a battery underperforms.
Improve reliability and service recovery.
Treat downtime as lost income. Design charging reliability and recovery flows that protect daily earnings when something goes wrong.
Locate charging along real rider routines.
Expand access in petrol stations, markets and transport hubs — places riders already pass through — rather than dedicated standalone sites.
Make ownership and financing work with daily cash flow.
Design payment structures that flex with what the bike actually earned, so a slow week doesn't put ownership at risk.
Enable MSMEs to host charging points.
Lower the risk and clarify the roles for small businesses to become reliable charging hosts inside their existing operations.
Design inclusive access by default.
Build flexibility for women, youth, lower-income riders and persons with disabilities (PWDs) into the service from the start, not as a later programme.
Read, watch, and take it further.
The full research report and a highlights summary are available below, alongside a recording of the closing webinar that brought together investors, manufacturers, infrastructure operators, rider representatives, engineers, policy actors and innovation strategists.
Highlights Report
A short-form summary of the rider insights, the mixed-charging ecosystem framing, and the six pathways — designed for partner conversations.
Full Research Report
The complete field research, persona work, service experience analysis and ecosystem opportunity areas — for teams going deeper into design and delivery.
Closing webinar recording
The full session hosted on the Innovators Team platform, with audience polls and a cross-sector discussion of what Charging as a Service should become.
An EV ecosystem group for the people moving this forward.
To keep the momentum going, an EV ecosystem social group has been opened on the Innovators Team platform. It is designed for people working on, investing in, researching, regulating or supporting electric mobility in East Africa — a space to share updates, discuss emerging questions, and explore collaboration around ecosystem-wide challenges.
- →Strong demand for follow-up events on charging and ownership
- →Interest in an online EV community to share field signal
- →Appetite for joint work on ecosystem-wide challenges
- →Open invitation to investors, OEMs, operators, policy and riders
Working on electric mobility, energy or charging?
Tell us the decision you’re trying to make. A senior practitioner from our East Africa team will reply within two working days.